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7.3-magnitude quake strikes in Pacific, near Fiji islands
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 15, 2011 5:42 p.m. EDT
t1larg.fiji.earthquake.map.jpg
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The U.S. Geological Survey says its depth was 626 kilometers, or 390 miles
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says a "destructive tsunami was not generated"
The quake's epicenter was estimated as 74 miles south-southwest of Fiji's Ndoi Island
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(CNN) -- A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck early Friday in the Fiji islands region of the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
According to the U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, "a destructive tsunami was not generated, based on earthquake and historical tsunami data."
The quake struck at a depth of 626 kilometers, or about 390 miles below the earth's surface, the Geological Survey said on its website. Its epicenter was 74 miles south-southwest of Fiji's Ndoi Island, 281 miles south-southeast of the Fijian capital, Suva, and 264 miles west of Nuku'alofa in Tonga, according to the U.S. agency's estimations.
It happened just after 7:30 a.m. Friday, or 3:30 p.m. ET. Initially, it was reported as 7.2 magnitude.
Besides the U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the Japan Meteorological Agency also did not release any tsunami warnings or advisories as a result of the quake.
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7.3-magnitude quake strikes in Pacific, near Fiji islands
By the CNN... more
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ABC...
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6.8-magnitude quake hits off Japan's coast, tsunami advisory issued
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6.8-magnitude quake hits off Japan's coast, tsunami advisory... more
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Estimated 6.8-magnitude quake strikes off coast of Papua New Guinea
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By the CNN Wire Staff
July 31, 2011 10:01 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: The Japan Meteorological Agency lifts any tsunami-related warnings or advisories
Earlier, the agency had said "there is a very small possibility" of a tsunami
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Australia's similar agency reports no such threats
The earthquake hits 81 miles east of Wewak, New Guinea, says the U.S. Geological Survey
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(CNN) -- A preliminary 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Monday morning off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The quake struck around 9:39 a.m. and was centered 131 kilometers (81 miles) east of Wewak, which is on the northern coast of the Pacific nation, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Its depth was reported at 16 kilometers (9 miles).
The Japan Meteorological Agency -- which had an identical measure for the quake's strength -- noted on its website that "there is a very small possibility of a destructive local tsunami" as a result. It said any tsunami likely would not be over half a meter (20 inches) high.
"However at some coasts, particularly near the epicenter, high tsunamis may arrive (larger) than our estimation," the agency said on its website.
But within about two hours after the quake struck, the Japanese agency reported there were no such warnings or advisories still in effect.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any threats or warning, noting on its website that there was no danger of a tsunami striking Hawaii. Similarly, the Australia tsunami warning center said there was no threat to that nation.Estimated 6.8-magnitude quake strikes off coast of Papua New Guinea
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By the CNN... more
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The New York Times
April 13, 2011
In Japan, Aftershocks Are Also Felt From Within
By ANDREW POLLACK and KEITH BRADSHER
TOKYO — Aguri Suzuki, a 44-year-old real estate agent, says she sometimes thinks the ground is shaking even when it is not. When she sees a tree branch swaying in the wind, she worries there has been an earthquake.
Doctors here say they are seeing more people who are experiencing such phantom quakes, as well as other symptoms of “earthquake sickness” like dizziness and anxiety.
And it is no wonder. As if the threat of radiation from a crippled nuclear power plant were not enough, Tokyo and the region to its northeast have been under a constant barrage of aftershocks since the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that set off a devastating tsunami on March 11. Two earthquakes were felt in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, three on Tuesday, a large one on Monday and a very large one of magnitude 7.1 last Thursday.
Over all, there have been 400 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater in northeastern Japan since March 11. That is as many sizable quakes in one month as Japan typically experiences in two and a half years, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The quakes are complicating efforts to control the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. For instance, the quake on Monday knocked out cooling at the Fukushima plant for nearly an hour.
Every time a sizable quake occurs, the first question on many people’s minds is whether the nuclear plant has been further damaged and whether a new cloud of radiation is on the way. A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant’s owner, is then hustled onto television to reassure viewers.
Government officials are becoming concerned that in the rush to cool the reactors and prevent hydrogen explosions, the plant’s vulnerability to another tsunami has been overlooked.
“A week ago we thought the major risk was a hydrogen explosion,” a senior official in the office of the prime minister said Tuesday. “I think the major risk at the moment is an aftershock and tsunami.”
Hidehiko Nishiyama, the deputy director general of Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said at a news conference on Wednesday evening that three measures are being considered that would allow electricity and cooling at the plant to remain intact even after a tsunami measuring 15 meters, or 49 feet. Right now the site can withstand a tsunami of only about 18 feet, he said. One measure is to interconnect the external power lines that have been built to the power plant, so that if one power line is broken, the others can still carry electricity to the various reactors.
A second measure is to put a generator on a small hill inside the plant site, and the third is to place a fire pumper engine on the hill that could send water into the reactors and spent fuel pools even if electricity was interrupted.
Japan, which sits atop four colliding tectonic plates, has a long history of earthquakes and some sophisticated technology to deal with them.
A detection system transmits warnings of some pending quakes a few seconds in advance to television broadcasters and to many cellphones. In recent weeks it has not been unusual to see nearly all the people in a restaurant or a train suddenly look at their cellphones at the same time.
Yurekuru, a free app for the iPhone that delivers such warnings (its name might be translated as “the shaking is coming”), now has 1.5 million users, compared with only 100,000 before the March 11 quake, according to RC Solution, the app’s developer.
Geologists say the frequency of the aftershocks has declined since March 11 and will continue to decline, but will still remain higher than normal for a long time. “There is an increased frequency and it will last for at least five or ten years,” said Ross S. Stein, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., who has studied the situation in Japan.
The March 11 quake was so strong that a Japan Coast Guard monitoring instrument on the floor of the Pacific Ocean near the epicenter moved 24 meters, or about 79 feet, eastward. The city of Sendai, whose airport was inundated by the tsunami, moved about 13 feet, according to Shinji Toda, a professor at Kyoto University.
Such large movements have shifted stresses in the earth, increasing the likelihood of quakes on some fault lines while reducing the likelihood on others, including the one involved in the 1923 Tokyo earthquake.
But over all, Dr. Stein said, the risks have increased. “There’s this very broad turn-on of seismicity that extends 300 miles from the rupture zone,” he said.
Satoko Oki, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo’s earthquake research institute, said that an aftershock of the March 11 quake could reach magnitude 8.0.
There is some precedent. The 2004 quake of magnitude 9.1 near Sumatra, Indonesia, which spawned a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people, was followed three months later by one measuring 8.6 and later by four more huge ones.
But the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile in early 2010 has not yet produced an aftershock larger than 7.1, Dr. Stein said.
To be sure, the spate of earthquakes has not caused the same panic and mass exodus as the fears of radiation in the first week after the nuclear crisis began. Still, with levels of radiation in the Tokyo air having sharply fallen since then, some people interviewed on the street said they worried about the aftershocks more than radiation.
Dr. Hideaki Sakata, director of the Mejiro University Clinic, who is treating Ms. Suzuki, said that feeling the ground shaking when it is not is similar to the continued feeling of swaying when one first gets off a boat onto solid ground.
Dr. Kazuhiro Soeda, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Utsunomiya, outside Tokyo, who also treats patients having trouble dealing with the aftershocks, said: “People are getting too sensitive. This is something we’ve never experienced before.”
Makiko Inoue, Kantaro Suzuki and Ken Ijichi contributed reporting.The New York Times
April 13, 2011
In Japan, Aftershocks Are Also Felt From... more
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Fresh quake triggers tsunami warning in Japan
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 7, 2011 12:07 p.m. EDT
The quake was centered 41 miles from Sendai -- one of the areas worst hit by last month's 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: The USGS reports a 7.1 magnitude
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant evacuated
Tsunami warning is in effect for Miyagi Prefecture, report says
No Pacific-wide tsunami expected, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says
Tokyo (CNN) -- A powerful earthquake struck Japan on Thursday, triggering a tsunami warning for one prefecture and advisories in other prefectures.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake was a magnitude of 7.4. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was 7.1.
There were no reports of casualties from anywhere in the earthquake zone, the National Police Agency said.
Workers evacuated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the quake, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said. Tokyo Electric said it has communication with the plant and the power is still on there. There were no immediate reports of damage, it said.
The quake's epicenter was off the coast of Miyagi in northeastern Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 41 miles (66 kilometers) from Sendai -- one of the areas worst hit by last month's 9.0-magnitude quake -- and 73 miles (118 kilometers) from Fukushima, where a crisis has been under way at the nuclear plant since last month's tsunami.
Public broadcaster NHK reported a tsunami warning for Miyagi prefecture, saying people in that area should evacuate away from the shore to a safe place.
NHK also reported tsunami advisories for the Pacific coast of Aomori Prefecture, and for the Iwate, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on all available data, "a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is not a tsunami threat to Hawaii."
The quake was centered 207 miles (333 kilometers) from Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was 15.9 miles (25.6 kilometers) deep, the agency reported.
It took place shortly after 11:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET).
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http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/japan.quake/t1main.japan.quake.7.1map.gm.jpgFresh quake triggers tsunami warning in Japan
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 7, 2011... more
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First Breaking News...
MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Friday, triggering tsunami alerts and sending people fleeing out of buildings in the capital. The quake rattled buildings and toppled cars off bridges and into waters underneath.
In Tokyo, crowds huddled together and tried to reach relatives via cell phone. Its epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) from Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. It triggered a tsunami alert for various countries, the National Weather Service said.
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March 11, 2011 5:35 a.m. EST
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive wave filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward land.
The number of fatalities was unclear, but Japan's Kyodo news reported at least 10 killed and numerous injured.
The quake prompted at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands to issue tsunami warnings. It was followed by powerful aftershocks that were felt in capital of Tokyo.
At Tokyo Station, one of Japan's busiest subway stations, people grabbed each other to steady themselves. Children cried. An announcement over the station loudspeaker warned commuters to remain underground.
With bus and train lines interrupted, workers and children poured into the streets after offices and schools were closed.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for calm and said there were no reported leaks of radioactive materials from power plants.
Firefighters battled a blaze at an oil refinery in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo.
"This was larger than anyone expected and went on longer than anyone expected," said Matt Alt in Tokyo.
"My wife was the calm one ... she told us to get down and put your back on something, and leave the windows and doors open in case a building shifts so you don't get trapped."
Richard Lloyd Parry said when the quake struck, he looked through a window and saw buildings shaking from side to side.
Such a large earthquake at such a shallow depth creates a lot of energy, said Shenza Chen of the U.S. Geological Survey.
A tsunami is sweeping across the Pacific Ocean, with a wall of water heading toward at more than a dozen countries.
An earthquake of that size can generate dangerous tsunamis to coasts outside the source region, the National Weather Service said.
Humanitarian agencies were working with rescue crews to reach the people affected.
"When such an earthquake impacts a developed country like Japan, our concern also turns to countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which might not have the same resources," said Rachel Wolff, a spokeswoman for World Vision.
In Philippines alone, the tsunami is expected to hit in the early morning and the government has ordered the evacuation of 19 provinces along the coast, which could affect hundreds of thousands of people
Authorities in at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands issued tsunami warnings, the National Weather Service said.
The tsunami could cause damage "along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," warned the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves that can last five to 15 minutes and cause extensive flooding in coastal areas. A succession of waves can hit -- often the highest not being the first, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.
A day earlier, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off of Honshu, the country's meteorological agency said.
CNN's Kyung Lah, Faith Karimi and Kevin Voigt contributed to this report.
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March 12 2011 - 3:38PM PT -
CNN's reporting two "MAJOR" aftershocks. Tsunami alerts reinstated.
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March 12 2011 - 11:07PM PT -
Japan upgrades magnitude of killer earthquake to 9.0; USGS keeps number at 8.9.
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March 13 2011 - 2:52PM PT
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
Here is what I think is, thus far, the most horrifying video (no, no dead or dying people) of what the tsunami looked like, taken from someone who had time to get up to higher ground and watch the town around him get destroyed.
Just picked it up from Sean Bonner, on Twitter...
seanbonner Sean Bonner
by BadAstronomer
Seriously, this first person Tsunami video is one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
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http://cbskllc.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-today-tsunami-warning.jpg?w=311&h=337First Breaking News...
MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN
Tokyo (CNN) -- An... more
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